Page 121 * * * * * * Kaden's body was still too weak to take her over, but he had
a feeling Harli's glare was properly conveying his anger and disgust. "Bill, you idiot. You knew this was a possibility when we first joined the Shifters as hosts." "I need Kaden to finish this term without..." "They won't impeach you. Everything is circumstantial without live witnesses and evidence that doesn't go missing as soon as it's found. We have been too careful for you to screw it up now." "George will know something's wrong. He's just too involved in things not to notice I don't think as fast." "Actually, we have a plan to cover that." Bill stepped
back, instinctively knowing he was not gonna like what his wife and his...her symbiote wanted to do to him. * * * * * * The ambulance pulled up outside the hospital, depositing the officers with ease. "Janet, I still think that..." Janet took another deep lungful of sterile, hospital air, enjoying the mixed scents for a moment before replying. "If you don't shush, people will think I'm going insane the way I keep talking to myself."
Sam grinned, and resumed her efforts to free herself from her friend. "There you are. We were beginning to wonder if the guy hadn't found you." Arlin smiled slightly, but stayed behind Janet as she accepted a uniform and coat from Amber, who'd also already changed clothes. **Is he even in Arlin anymore? Of course he is. Janet would've said something if he...** **Amber!** Amber's eyes went wide and Jack took over, catching her as her foot slid out from under her. "Jonathan? You can hear me?" **Yes.** The grin on Jack's face didn't dim for a moment as he turned Amber so no one else could see the shaking in her hand as she rapidly wiped away the small tears gathered in the corner of her eye. *She's so gorgeous.* *Yup.* **Anyway, why couldn't I hear you before? How long have you been able to hear me? Were you deliberately blocking me? Oh! Are you hurt?** Jack snickered at Arlin's mental confusion as Amber pulled back and visually examined him, looking for outward evidence of injury. **We're fine. As soon as we walked into the corridor, I could hear you.** *That's when he yelled...loudly.* Amber
rolled her eyes and then blanked her face after another swipe of her sleeve across her face. "We can hear each other. As soon as we got close..." "So it's got a distance parameter to take into consideration from now on." "Uh...yeah. You okay?" Janet raised a slight eyebrow, turning so Sam wasn't shoving herself into the Colonel while pondering his question. "You mean about your link reestablishing?" "Yeah...do you trust me at all, now...or has that changed again?" "Jack, we're fine. We're not friends, we're not enemies...we're in limbo and while we're there, just be yourself and I'll be myself and we'll see where we come out at the end." Amber wadded up the tissue, her brow furrowed when she faced Jonathan and Janet again. "You two sound like a bad movie. I don't see where the confusion is. Lovers' spat. Punishment. Make up. Done." Jonathan rolled his eyes and Amber smiled a bit before addressing Janet. "Daniel's already in a gown and ready for preliminary exminations. I assume you'll allow me to assist you." Jack ducked their head and as soon as the moment of relaxation spread through their body, Arlin took over. "Umm...aren't you both suspended?" "No." "Not really." The women glared at Arlin and he shrunk back a step until they turned and quickly walked in the direction of Janet's office where Daniel was impatiently waiting. *You know, for someone who's scared of them, you're sure pushing the right buttons.* *You're right and I'm hungry. They went that way. There's a vending machine...umm...that other way...* *Wuss.* *At least I'll live.* *I dunno...they looked like they might hunt you down and eat your ear or something...* *You're not funny.* Jack's
chuckles only made Arlin's cheeks burn brighter as the young man made his way into the snack room to see what he could buy. * * * * * * "Sir, Dr. Fraiser is on the phone." George set down the dragon, motioning
SG-13 to stay in their seats while he took the call. "He's getting really crowded. There's just not enough room in there." "Well, I still think we oughta send him back to his world. He can't live here." Syla glared at Harris, knowing that unless they came up with an alternative, that was exactly what the General was going to do. "That won't solve the problem of the baby dragon, though. He deserves to grow up with more of his kind." "Mason, unless you're suggesting we bring some of them, here..." Her guilty flush answered the question and Terry grimaced. "Find a way it could work or else GoldenBird's going back and I have a feeling the General may send the kid with him." Greg bit his lip, picking up the shivering dragon. * * * * * * "Yes, sir. Really...I'm fine. We're all fine. It was just a shock, but we think we may have some solid theories on...of course...sir, I'd rather..." Janet sighed as another set of results crossed her desk. "Sir, I need to be reinstated. I'm the most qualified to be working on this." "What about Dr. Corvores?" "She needs me to examine her, too. As soon as I'm certain they're not going to explode or anything else, I'll bring everyone over to the base, but until we know what caused the implant to..." "It's Asgard." Arlin's voice cut in and Janet stared at the nervous man as he stood on the other side of her desk. "Sir, I think I may have more information for you. Can I call you back?" "Certainly. Just...hurry. There's a lot going on and I have a bad feeling we're on a time limit and we don't even know it." "Yes, sir. I certainly understand that feeling." "I'm sure you do. Good bye, Doctor." "Bye, sir." Janet hung up the phone, her eyes never leaving Arlin's. "Explain. What's Asgard?" "Aliens landed in Roswell and were...disappeared as Mish likes to say. I don't know everything cuz Peri hated even talking about it, but I do know that the aliens were Asgards, we found that out after Dr. Jackson's sketches of them came through and perfectly matched the aliens being held..." "Are you saying we've had prisoners this entire time?" Janet held up her hand when Arlin started to speak, rummaging around in her Whatsit drawer.
"Peri thinks the...Roswell aliens...were test subjects...experiments...anyway, they were in a small ship and there was technology that was confiscated. The implants were mostly Asgard with...additions...they were mostly experimental, still, and long-term use would more than likely cause brain damage. Amber's was removed when it was discovered that it had already begun leaking...stuff...into her body. Jack's...was left in more out of hope that it would make him easier to interrogate. When they found out that the mind link was still there, they made plans to extract the information from Amber, but all of you kind of...messed those plans up by leaving and since Peri and I were last with them, we don't know what all they're doing. Mish was gonna get in and get Tesaf out of there, but I don't know how that..." "Tesaf?" "Yeah, he was in Angela, but when it became clear that Capt. Carter could sense other Goa'uld while she was so ill in the infirmary from the Naquadah poisoning after working in the...uh...mine, the risk was too high so he had to leave her while the plan moved forward to..." "Angela...Morhs?" "Yeah, she's been Tesaf's host for...forever, even though I didn't know it until I joined Peri." "Okay, and the plan was to?" "Find out where Neris was." "Neris?" "Kaden's queen." "Kaden?" "Yeah, he's..." Arlin's head ducked and a rather impatient voice was heard a second later. "For cryin' out loud! The two of you are making my brain freeze." Janet's stern look barely slowed Jack down. "Just listen. We have Asgards in chains, essentially, in the SGC. We have a family of "Shifters" who are up in arms, lookin' for the Queen Bee herself who apparently is the one who rescued me in Iraq. They know that so they think I can help them find her so they've made this huge elaborate scheme to try and drag the information out of me instead of just asking for it." He smiled a bit when Janet rolled her eyes, but continued, "One of 'em's in a vamp and since they were already getting blood and stuff for the Asgards for unknown reasons, getting more for the vamp shouldn't have been a problem except, of course, that we noticed when we had like...fifty blood tests every hour." Janet winced, remembering when Jack had first started in about it. "So we need to decide what to do." Martouf stepped forward, fear edging his voice. "You do not realize just how far-reaching these actions will be. When the Asgard find out you have mistreated their people, they will rise against you and we will not be able to protect your world." "Hey! We didn't do anything. The Goolds left on our world did it and that's not our fault." "They may not make the distinction. Asgard are peaceful, preferring treaties and alliances to war, but they are not above destroying entire solar systems if they deem it to be a danger that cannot be stopped any other way." "Well this one can be stopped another way. They can take our buddies and toss 'em into the sun. There. Done." Janet sighed, knowing the results of her conversation with Hammond wouldn't go over well. "The General told me some things you might be able to make sense of." Jack flipped a fold-out seat around, straddling it as the actual patient chairs were then filled with Martouf and Teal'c. "Shoot." Janet grimaced, hating the implications her mind was conjuring. "I'm out." "What?" "What?" "Janet? Are you okay?" "DoctorFraiser, what is wrong?" "I think Sam's out of me." "Yeah, she just yanked out. Is that what did that to you? You look like you're about to die. Here." Jack handed over the coke, but yanked it back when Janet cried out, her fist banging the desk. "Oh of all the...!" He was up and around
the desk, his eyebrow raised at Janet's exclamation, noticing Sam's frown and the tipped coffee mug at the same time. "I'll be fine. Both of you can back off now." Teal'c was back only
moments later with a filled sterile basin and washcloth and Sam quickly attached herself to him. **Okay, I can talk now. Tell Janet I'm finished with Daniel and he's getting dressed now. I'm telling him everything I know and heard so that we're both up to date when we get in there. You'd better tell her the President's a bad guy, you know.** *He wants to use it to make her say...* **I know what he wants to do. I never knew how many exasperating things guys do they actually planned in advance.** **Hey! It takes brains to be as dumb as me.** **Yeah, sure...anyway, Daniel's got some ideas, too, and he's promised Jolinar so he can't go back on joining the Tok'ra, but at least it might only be a visit instead of...** **Say what? He is not joining those snakeheads!** **It's his choice!** *Uh...* **No, it isn't. He's a member of SG-1 and so long as he's under my command, he's...** **Not under your command! You're dead! Or has that slipped your mind? You'll be listed as deceased, just like Carter, and we'll have a full military burial for both of you. Your orders don't mean squat!** *I think...* **For your Information, I'm not dead, merely without a body and that means that I can...** **Can what? Stand in Arlin's body and try to order...who, Makepeace around? The whole team of combat Marines'll laugh in your face. And you know what you'll do? You'll have to prove to them you're still capable of command.** *Jack, I'd really rather not...* **Oh come on! Think, Amber. I'm in a nineteen year old body that with only a few weeks of straight gym work'll do better than the one I was in. With my mind and his body, I can...** **Take him into dangerous situations against his will? Jonathan, the kid's scared stiff of Janet bonking him with her purse. How do you think his poor brain'll handle combat? From what I heard, Peri didn't exactly jump into battles so it's not like he's got her memories of them to go on.** *She's right. I think Eloise worked during the war and the depression...there wasn't much fighting at all in Peri's memories. Yours are scary enough. I don't wanna...* *Arlin, don't listen to her. I know what I'm doing.* **So do I. You're trying to live again at the expense of someone else.** **That's so not true.** **Oh yeah? Then have Sam push Peri back into her body.** **Excuse me?** **You heard me. If you're really able to give up your need to be here and heard so that each soul can have their own body, then give Peri back her body.** **I can't do that, yet.** **See?** **Not because I don't want to! Do you have any idea how fragile and sickening Goolds really are? I do. I don't want to live as one. I'm staying in here until I'm sure we have all the information Arlin has and that we don't need him for covert...** **Jonathan, I'm sure the General has already reported that you're in Arlin's body to the President. That's what happens with the chain of command. So if you're thinking of sneaking around, pretending to be him, it won't work. So what other reason, besides fear, is keeping you from giving Peri back her body?** **We're not even sure Carter can push Peri in...** **Cop out. We can always try and if it fails, think of something else.** "Sir! Come back to us. What's wrong?" Jack's eyes focused on Sam's and he realized his face was wet. **How did she know something was wrong?** *Jack's crying. He's been crying for the last few minutes. I tried to tell you, but...neither of you were listening to me. Sam's been trying to get our attention, but since Jack was in charge and was too emotional, I couldn't get past his mind.* *Take control.* *Jack, it's okay if you don't want...* *Just do it!* **You don't need to yell at Arlin. It's not his fault. Yell at me if you need to. I shouldn't have pushed.** **It's okay.** **No, it isn't. I'd die if I found out I was just standing there, crying. I'm sorry.** **Amber. It's okay. Just...let it go. I didn't realize just how scared I was.** **I did and I pushed anyway. We're out the door now and Jacob's with us.** **Fine.** "Sir! Please..." Arlin brushed his sleeve across, sniffling a bit. "It's not Jack. It's me. He and Amber were arguing and I just couldn't handle it. I'm sorry." "Oh!" Teal'c's frown indicated his disproval at such obvious weakness, but inside Arlin, a symbiote was starting to smile. *You didn't have to do that. They'll think you're even more sickening than you already are.* **Oh, that's a great way to thank him for taking the heat. Arlin, tell 'em Jack was crying cuz he wet himself.** **Oh like they'll believe that.** **Arlin, pee or something and blame it on Jack messing around with his tentacles. Say he stuck one into the wrong entry point or something.** *I don't think I'll do any of those...Jack, aren't you glad Amber's not your host?* *Yes.* Arlin's grin at the mental neon "Yes" flashing in his mind apparently set the room at ease since Sam backed off a bit, still careful to stay close enough to Teal'c
she wouldn't go flying. * * * * * * |
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